Network
Contributing Writer rail@bauermedia.co.uk
MORE than four years behind schedule, the first Alstom-built Class 701 Arterio carried South Western Railway passengers on Tuesday January 9.
A Department for Transport promise to have trains operating in 2023 was missed by nine days - one of many failed deadlines since the trains were due in operation in 2019.
The first train was the 1025 from London Waterloo’s Platform 19 to Windsor & Eton Riverside, arriving at 1119 and returning ten minutes later.
The journey did not appear in any published timetable. This “soft launch” was an additional service, with the single train (701037) due to operate one round trip, once a day, for just four days.
Several previous attempts to run the train during December and early January had been called off.
The train was launched without fanfare, as company executives huddled surreptitiously out of view in a corner of Waterloo station.
It could be said the train was hidden away, although a handful of enthusiasts noticed the booked train path and were able to travel on it. One, Christopher Date, said: “For an enthusiast, a first train is a big tick in the box. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. And this one is four years late. It has had so many problems and false dawns. I’m just glad to see it.”
SWR Chief Operating Officer Stuart Meek said: “It’s the next step on the journey towards introducing this train. We are putting it into passenger service to test it, to see how it goes on the infrastructure.
“This programme is all about taking baby steps. Get it in, get passengers on the train, get staff used to the train. We are very keen to get the fleet in, but we need to do that cautiously with a soft launch.
“As the year goes on, we will try to extend the programme. We continue to work with the manufacturer to get the trains to the standard we want. They won’t be perfect on Day One - no new train ever is.”
But does one single train, on one suburban route, operating unscheduled only once a day for just four days, really count as “entering passenger service”?
“The last thing we want to do is put a train into service for it to break down on the tracks,” Meek responded. He added: “These are complicated trains.”
A handful of mildly bemused passenge
